2008-05-15

Can Mormon women wear pants when visiting a temple? Can men wear cummerbunds during a marriage ceremony? Are vasectomies an appropriate birth control option? The answers to these (no, no, and not really) and similar questions about Mormon practice and leadership might not seem to be especially secret, but the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints isn't pleased about secret church documents hitting the Internet. In this case, the cause of the displeasure is the confidential Church Handbook of Instructions, published by Wikileaks on April 16. The church is currently trying to get the information pulled down using copyright infringement notices, but Wikileaks doesn't respond to such requests. The church has turned instead to targeting other sites that host or link the handbook.

Scribd, a sort of "YouTube for documents," has already taken down a copy of the material after receiving a copyright infringement notice from the Intellectual Property Division of the Church (who knew churches had such divisions?). The church has also gone after the Wikimedia Foundation, the group that oversees Wikipedia and Wikinews (it has no connection to Wikileaks). What's interesting about the takedown request is that the Wikimedia Foundation did not actually host or even cite the material in question; a Wikinews article published on April 19 simply mentioned the existence of the handbooks at Wikileaks and provided a link to it. In response, Wikimedia also received a copyright infringement notice from Intellectual Reserve, the church's IP division. The link was subsequently removed.

The Mormons clearly "get" the Internet in some sense (you can chat online with a missionary, for instance), but they appear determined to follow in the footsteps of groups like Bank Julius Baer that have managed to draw widespread attention to confidential documents without managing to have them removed from Wikileaks. Given that any such removal will be tough going, it seems strange to highlight the issue by going after a Wikinews post, for instance.

But the Mormons aren't the only religious group targeting Wikileaks. The site has already amassed an impressive track record when it comes to irritating powerful and litigious groups, so it was really just a matter of time before Scientology got involved. That happened back in March, when the group's lawyers demanded that Wikileaks remove a set of "Operating Thetan" documents.

A quick look through the trove shows why; the documents are bizarre, and include large chunks of handwritten material by founder L. Ron Hubbard ("Incident 1 occurred about 4 quadrillion years ago + or -. It is very much earlier than Inc. 2, which occurred only 75,000,000 years ago (a bit less). Incident 2 is only peculiar and general on the planet and nearby stars, whereas Incident 1 is to be found on all Thetans."). The documents also discuss dealing with things like "Theetie Weetie cases."

In a press release issued on April 7, Wikileaks was defiant, saying that "we have come to the conclusion that Scientology is not only an abusive cult, but that it aids and abets a general climate of Western media self-censorship. If the west [sic] can not defend its cultural values of free speech and press freedoms against a criminal cult like Scientology, it can hardly lecture China and other state abusers of these same values."

When even judges recognize that restraining orders against Wikileaks are failures, we might expect that groups would simply let such leaks alone and not call any more attention to them than necessary. That's clearly not the case, however, so we might soon learn whether religious power can succeed where Swiss bankers have failed.

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